SOPA 2026 - A full circle celebration for the WCPP
The Official Opening of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and the Premier’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) will take place at 18:30 on Wednesday 25 February 2026 at the Conville Community Hall, 1 Pienaar Street, Conville, George. The debate on SOPA and the Premier’s reply will take place in the same venue on Thursday 26 February 2026 at 08:00 and 12:00 respectively.
This year marks the sixth time that the Official Opening and the Premier’s State of the Province Address will be hosted remotely. “In 2019 the Provincial Parliament made a commitment to take this auspicious and important event on the parliamentary calendar to all six districts of the Western Cape. Commencing in 2020 with the hosting of SOPA in Mitchells Plain in the Cape Metro, we also hosted this event in Genadendal in the Overberg, Velddrif in the West Coast, Paarl in the Cape Winelands and Beaufort West in the Central Karoo. This year it’s the turn of the one district that not hosted SOPA in yet, the Garden Route. Our commitment to take parliament closer to the people of the Western Cape has come full circle,” says Speaker Daylin Mitchell.
The Conville Community Hall in George, the venue for this year’s Official Opening and SOPA, holds special historic significance for the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. “On 16 September 2004, during the first session of the third Western Cape Provincial Parliament, the first ever sitting of the House in a remote venue was hosted in the Conville Hall in George. The subject for discussion on that day’s Order Paper was: The threats and opportunities for sustainable social and economic development in the Western Cape. This year, 22 years later, we are back in the same Conville Community Hall in George – another full circle moment for participatory democracy and building relationships with communities all over the province,” added Speaker Mitchell.
As in the past, various local authorities across the province will set up spaces for citizens to follow the livestreams of SOPA, the debate and reply. “You might not be able to attend the event in person in George, but we are streaming the event as it happens, so you can be part of the excitement and also hear what the provincial government is planning,” he added.
Links to livestreams on the WCPP website:
- State of the Province Address, 25 February at 18:30: https://www.wcpp.gov.za/?q=node/20099
- Debate on the State of the Province Address, 26 February at 08:00: https://www.wcpp.gov.za/?q=node/20100
- Reply by the Premier on the State of the Province Debate, 27 February at 12:00: https://www.wcpp.gov.za/?q=node/20101
